SKETTY24, HUGHLOVERX and SPARKLE, thank you so much for taking your precious time to review the previous chapter :D!!! Oh…and Sparkle, don't worry --- nothing's "going on" between Rogue and Logan in the story.

SPOILER NOTE: Dead? Who's dead? ;)

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Chapter 82: The dead never listen…and yet they linger

She slipped her hands to the back of his neck and pulled him close to her chest. Then she sat there, in the bathtub, crying her tears away as she cradled his unmoving body in her arms. The blood from his face smeared against her hands and stained her white tank top, creating a red map of his blood on her chest. Her forehead too, was stained with red, from one she pressed her forehead against his. She had his blood all over him and she deserved it. She was the reason why they had come down to this.

Yuriko suddenly sensed someone by the doorway, and then she turned her head and looked at its direction. And in that brief moment, when she saw the tall figure standing there, her tears stopped, and her eyes widened with surprise as she saw Logan, still and unmoving. He was looking at them with piercing eyes, like a hawk would its prey. There was no expression of pity in his face, or a hint of sympathy. He just stood there, glaring at their entangled forms as Yuriko held Stryker in her arms.

Logan clenched his hands into tight fists and gritted his teeth as he looked back at her bloody, tear-stained face. He couldn't bear the sight before him. The girl that he was starting to care for deeply, was crying for the man that he hated the most. He felt betrayed --- he felt so powerless. He felt so worthless to her. How could she hold Stryker like that? How could she hold him and cry for him, when Stryker had done nothing but hurt her for the past decade? What caused this sudden change of heart?

Logan and Yuriko remained unmoving as they continued to look into each other's eyes. Both of them seemed to have lost their will to speak. Time itself seemed to have frozen as they looked at each other, studying each other like a puzzle. They were like a mystery to one another now. Two people who seemed to know each other so well, and who were so alike in so many ways, were now looking at one another as if they were strangers…as if they didn't know who they were.

Logan continued to clench his fists tightly as he looked at her. He wanted to tear her off of Stryker. He couldn't stand to see her like that anymore…to find her in the arms of another man. He was hoping that this was nothing but a nightmare, a nightmare that he would soon wake up from, but he doubted it. He'd had many nightmares in the past, and this was definitely not one of them. This was real. This was life.

He just couldn't accept the fact that he had to share Yuriko with 'him'…'That' bastard out of all the people in the world. With Jean, he was able to accept the fact that he had to compete with Scott for her attention…and that was because Scott was his friend and whether he denied it or now, he respected Scott. But he could never ever accept the fact that he would have to compete with Stryker for Yuriko's future.

Why Stryker? Why 'him' out of all the people in the world? Stryker was nothing compared to him...Stryker was an animal compared to him --- he's a bloodthirsty mutant-hating monster who wants nothing but death to those who don't deserve it. And yet, right now, Stryker was the one Yuriko was crying for, as if he was the only thing she wanted.

Logan couldn't understand. Why? Why?

Wasn't he good enough for her? Shouldn't he be the one she should be holding on to? Shouldn't he be the one she'd want to hold in her arms? What happened to the girl who had promised to let go of the past and move on to the future? Where had she gone? Back into the arms of that mad man who had pained her her entire life? And why now, when he, Logan, was starting to fall for her? Why now?

Last night, before they fell asleep right next to each other, he really did feel so close to Yuriko. When he looked at her peaceful sleeping face and felt her body so close to him and felt her lips against his, there was a split-second of time when he felt that he truly 'loved' her, as if he had loved her all along. He couldn't explain the feeling of it --- the split-second surge of passion that he felt for was like a feeling that had been locked within him for so long…And Yuriko was the key. She unlocked his heart and brought out that feeling again. She was the one who did --- as if he was meant to love her.

And he liked the feeling. He liked that feeling that he 'loved' her. It felt so right --- so meant to be. It felt like the one thing he had been yearning for all this time --- the one thing that had been nagging him in the back of his mind for the past fifteen years that he couldn't understand, and yet now he understood because of her…Because it was all about her right from the beginning. He had loved her all this time, and didn't even know it, until now, when he found her cradling that man in her arms.

Yuriko gasped and tears slowly started to trickle down her face --- one tear on each cheek --- one tear for each of the two men she loved more than anything else in her life. She clenched her jaw and swallowed as she tried to stop her sobs from making their way from her throat to her lips. Then she breathed in, and said the words she thought she'd never ever say in the fifteen years of her damned existence…

"I don't want to lose him, Logan." She said softly, her words almost escaping into faint gasps. She brought her hand up to her cheek and wiped the tears that stained her face. A smudge of thick crimson liquid ran across her cheek as she did, because of Stryker's blood that had touched her hand earlier.

Logan exhaled, and then he tightened his fists harder and clenched his jaw, as if he wanted to bite onto something so hard. He looked like a wild animal waiting to be unleashed. Then he bowed his head, closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. If he were in a battlefield, he'd kill anyone in sight and slaughter them without mercy. That was how much he hated Stryker right now. That's how much he hated Stryker for turning Yuriko into a slave of her own past.

Logan opened his eyes, and then he breathed in. "He's gone, Yuriko." He said gruffly. He could see her from the corner of his eye, but he didn't look at her. Not even a simple glance to see her facial expression. "He can't hear you now." He said softly.

Yuriko looked at Logan's face. Her eyes never moved away from him as she felt her unstoppable tears streaming down her cheeks. Then she slowly shook her head from side to side, in denial of what Logan had just said.

"No." She gasped

Logan's head suddenly whipped forward, and his eyes bore deeply into hers, piercing them with his unmoving stare. His brown eyes were like arrows plunging deep into the eyes of their target. And he looked at her without doubt in his face. He looked at her as if he could read her mind, like he knew her inside out.

"You like that monster, don't you?" He asked through gritted teeth. He spat each word as if they were taboo. "You like what that he'd become." He added.

"You've fallen for this new version of himself and you don't even know it. Don't you?" His eyes were full of anger as he looked at her. "You think I haven't noticed? We've only been together for two days, Yuriko…two days, and trust me, I did notice." He couldn't hide the subtle fury in his voice.

"And you want to know something?" He asked imposingly. Then he continued, not even giving her the chance to react to his rhetorical question. "Each and every time that I rescued you from that bastard," He said, pointing at Stryker. "I felt so useless!!!"

Yuriko's eyes suddenly shot wide open. She couldn't believe what Logan had just said.

Then he gritted his teeth and looked at her with fiery eyes. "Did you think I enjoyed going to your rescue every time he was hurting you?! Did you think I liked being the knight in shining armor every time he drove you insane?! Did you think I enjoyed that, Yuriko?! Did you think I felt like some big hero every time I saved you from him?! Huh?!" His voice echoed in the bathroom as he shouted at her.

Each word that flew from Logan's lips felt like shrapnel against Yuriko's skin as she listened to them. She couldn't believe that Logan was talking to her like that. She couldn't believe that he was shouting at her as if she was his enemy. She thought he'd understand her situation. She thought he'd support her and comfort her like he had done before, when they were together last night, outside the mansion, and in his room. But right now, as she sat there, listening to him, she felt as if she was looking at a man who had nothing but anger in his heart. What happened to the Logan she knew?

Logan suddenly winced in frustration and pounded the side of his fist against the doorway. A brief cry of anger flew from his lips as he did. He felt so frustrated, so confused…He couldn't believe the questions he had asked her, and the things he had told her. He practically told Yuriko that she 'liked' Stryker. And that alone was insane.

He couldn't even understand why he felt so enraged at her. He had never been this angry with a friend before. There was just something in him that suddenly snapped and burned when he saw Yuriko and Stryker together. And it hurt him even more when she told him that she wanted him back. Why? Was it because he was jealous? Was he jealous…over Stryker? The thought of that was ridiculous in itself…it should have made him laugh…but it didn't --- it just added up to the anger that was raging within him…the anger that he couldn't comprehend, couldn't understand…

Perhaps --- the real reason why he was so angry at her right now was the possibility --- that if this new Stryker did come back to Yuriko's life, she might prefer that man over him…Was that it? How could he even assume that? Was it because of their pasts? Logan felt like he was just going around in circles, asking himself questions whose answers were locked in the past he knew nothing about --- so many questions, so many confusions, so many forgotten memories, so many puzzles, and he had no real answers for each and every one of them. The only real thing he had, was his anger.

Logan pursed his lips, and then a sharp gasp escaped from them. His piercing eyes continued to look into hers as he served as he mindlessly judged her. "And do you know why I feel that way?!" He asked, shouting out each word. "Do you know why I feel so useless and pointless whenever I rescue you from him?!"

Then he stopped his words, and looked at her --- waiting for an answer. His chest and shoulders heaved up and down as he deeply breathed. His hands were clenched into tight fists by his sides and his tall form remained unmoving like a strong tower.

Yuriko looked back at him with widened eyes. She felt as if her whole world had just been turned upside down. She didn't know Logan felt that way about everything. She didn't know he felt so 'useless' whenever he rescued her from Stryker. All this time she thought of Logan as her protector --- someone who had always been there for her --- someone who had always understood her pains. But now, there he was, confessing that he felt more like a pointless hero every time he saved her from Styker.

And that pained Yuriko. It tortured her to hear him say such words…Because whether she admitted it to herself or not, she loved Logan. Even if her love for him was based on their past, she still loved him. And yet he returned her love with doubt and accusation. Why? Didn't he feel comfort whenever he saved her? Didn't Logan feel valiant whenever he rescued her from the enemy? She thought he did…But no, he didn't….he said so himself. And this new revelation had left her speechless and dumbfounded.

When the only answer Logan got from Yuriko was her tears, he finally had the urge to speak out. "I felt that way…Because every time I saved you from that bastard, you always crawled back to him!!!" He shouted out loud as he pointed at Stryker. The veins in his neck protruded as he spat out those words.

Yuriko gasped as Logan's answer sank deep into her mind. More tears broke out from her eyes. She could feel her bloody hands shaking and her chest tightening when she realized the truth behind his words. It was true…no matter how many times Logan had saved her from him, she always ended up going back to Stryker's side…like a child who had been burnt but who continued to touch and marvel at the fire.

"And it was starting to turn into a game, Yuriko!" He said angrily. His eyes burned with fury in each and every word. "And I felt like a god-damn pawn! I saved you every time you needed me! I was there whenever he hurt you! But every time I lost sight of you, you always went back to him! Him, of all people!" He said, pointing at Stryker again. "And it started to turn into vicious cycle that I couldn't understand! That's why I felt so useless… Because I was saving you from no one but yourself!"

Logan grunted in frustration, then he ran his fingers through his hair. He wiped his lips and breathed in as he looked back at her. There was both sadness and anger in his face.

"At first I thought I knew you." He continued. "At first I thought I knew who you were. I though I knew what you wanted in life…and at one point in time I thought that I could give it all to you. I thought I could satisfy everything that you needed." His voice had softened a bit, but there was still a hint of anger in it. "But now I don't know who you are anymore, Yuriko. It's like there's this part of you that I can't see --- I can't touch."

He wished he didn't have say those words to her, but it was too late for that now. He had already said everything that was needed to be said. He felt like a bomb that had just exploded --- and his rage was now slowly starting to drift off into thin air.

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